“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8:15).
My wife has a new found love for gardening, for the feel of digging around in the dirt. She’s discovered that when it comes to growing things, the soil makes all the difference.
Because of our faith in Christ, we have been blessed with “good soil.” We don’t have good soil today and rocky soil tomorrow. We have good soil forever. This good soil is the fulfillment of the prophecy in which God promised, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
It is because of God’s grace that we were given good soil to hear the gospel and retain it. It is because of God’s Spirit working in our good soil that we persevere through difficulty.
So do not allow temporary setbacks, moments of doubt, tribulations, temptations or periods of flickering faith to confuse you. On this earth, the good soil has to endure the same storms as the rocky and thorny soil. The difference is in the care of the One who faithfully enriches and replenishes our soil, so when the skies clear, as they always will, we will be amazed and grateful for the fruit of a more precious and personal faith in Him. And that’s the “dirty” truth of the matter.
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